Challenge Lab: Crypto
Difficulty: Easy
“I found the following message in a temple, I had the sensation that they were hiding something. Could you help me discover what it was?
Zip Password: hackthebox
sha256: eeebd042dd1a65d271498a6fa5972b08f10c53f82d2a38c5c52eb9c8edb251f7
We start by downloading the .zip file, then use the password provided to open this .jpg image:
I put this in a photo editor and started adding random filters and adjusting things. When I turned the exposure all the way up I saw what immediately reminded me of the Runic Alphabet:
However, this proved fruitless, because there are some symbols that don’t have runic counterparts.
I turned the exposure back to normal, stared at it for awhile, then Googled “temple crypto” and saw this:
Which, according to this Wikipedia page, was a numeral system for European Monks living in the middle ages to efficiently write numbers. What it looks like you do is layer these on top of each other to create symbols. Following those rules…
Translates to:
72 84 66 123 77 48 78 107 115 95 107 78 51 119 33 125
Using a simple online converter (found HERE) to convert this from decimal to ASCII, I was able to find the flag!
Happy Hacking! ❤
